HEROES, ONE T(APP) AWAY BycJanolan Ho Young entrepreneur Daniel Thong, shares his thoughts on how technology is disrupting the service industry and what he learned when he went undercover in his own company. ‘TRUE HEROES DON'T WEAR CAPES: Mr Daniel Thong, cleaning the toilet as a un- dercover cleaner in his company (Photo: Daniel Thong) Youngentrepreneur Daniel Thong, cover as a“hero”as they aremore Mr Thong excialmed: “Even when shared his thoughts on how tech- affectionately known, under his we did find one, we managed to ‘nology is Gsrupting the service n- company’s app to better under- Set raped off” So they Imagined dustry and what he learned when stand the service industry. 8 solution that would dsiterme- erate ce ieee diate the fyers and trees and pro- Booey siaiaen ide good services to thelr cents, ‘graduate tom London schoal of SerisHer Is a mable‘rst plat- Challenges Faced when Economies, holds 2 master’s de- form that connects consumers sreefrom xford university. with local servces providers Hie dealing with the Industry Gleaner, plumber. electricians Yetshe lnafreelance Gane, over a location aware 300. TM e+e were yo major cha Idea af the app came about in This was the ease for twa months May 2015 when Daniel and his when Mr Daniel Thong, 28, coun- co-founders came back to South ‘ry manager for the application ast Asia and found It frustrating ‘company Servishero went under- 1g find an al-can service provider. that Serishere faced when they first launched in Singapoce, The first was getting the consumer trust in hiring the service provicees and forthe service provider to ‘adopt the technology. The second challenge was reaching out ta the colder Generations of both can- sumers and Service providers. Solutions to the challenges {tn order to get the consumer trust, they have specially set up 2 team Wha weuld constantly manor ‘and vet the service providers on ‘the app. They do this by screening ‘Out any service providers that they deem unfit to provide a good ser lee. This way the consumers will bbe accured that all their service providers are of quality and are egal. A rating system was devised 5 wel to allow the-community to Vette service providers therefore Increasing the credibitty Far the Service providers, espe- cially forthe older generations to ‘adopt the technology in the begin. fing it was a very manual process. Servshera had to run frequent (Workshops to teach the service providers how to use the app to bid for jobs. They continued to-do that face to face tl they Wi eri cal mass where they cauld simply teach multiple provider at a scale via WhatsApp or email Technology © disruption ‘Technology isa disruption to alin- dustries. For example, the largest ‘al company Uber, awns no tax I. The largest hotel Chain Alrbob ‘owns na hotel. With the Service Industry its the same story. “With technology, t's always “ssrupt ‘or be disrupted” sald Mr Thong, ‘Therefore, to ensure that his com pany stays relevant la the future he is ensuring that he ands com- ‘pany will continue to create and innovate new value adding tools forthe Service providers as he be- eves that: “At the end of the day, if our service providers win and ‘they can deliver a better service, ‘then our eansumars alsa win and we wil win” Thisis evident as service providers ‘Ako known as “heroes” partner: Ing Sarvieharo have gained from the disruption as now their cl entele has increased significantly after being on the app. “After | Joined Servishero my dlentele has Increased by 30% said sunny, 3 handy man. This brings adlitional Income to these service providers and impeaving their quality of We. Going undercover as 3. lean Being the Country manager for Singapore; Daniel believes inead Ing by example, he would not ask his staff to do something he would nat do himself And therefore, as he bs championing the cause af his tleaners in Singapore he wanted to beter understand them. Therefore, he decided he will io reese himself into the dally lives of the cleaners understanding the highs and lows of theie daly work Ife. By doing ths it serves to ma- tivate and inspie Wis staff as he is concerned about thelr dally werk Ife andhow to improve their work experience. And this was exactly what he found. He sald that it was oaly af- tere went undercover and was in the shoes of the service provides that, he gota mare holistic view of whattheircompany isbullding and trying to salve overall. Being in the shoes of the provider he was also able to better understand the kind of features that would benefit the service providers (One of the main problems he faced when he was a freelance Cleaner was that le was aiheute to ‘wansport the materials needed 10 the dlien’s house and upon teaming that insight, he immed ely partnered up with Grab to help their service providers book cheaper transportation in a more efficient manner. & lat of ideas an how technology can better help coordinate scheduling also came out of Nis experience fealancing. When asked what 1s his advice for budding entrepreneurs in the technology Industry, Mr Thong, said: “Always be willing to leave your comfort zone and never be staid to ty, that’s the frst step to